Dr. Kelly Shanahan
@stage4kelly
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doctor, mother, woman LIVING with metastatic breast cancer. Grant reviewer. Conference goer. METAvivor board member. She/her. #NotDeadYet since 2013
California, USA
Joined October 2015
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@KMurryByrd
I was an ob/gyn. My husband built my office & he was upstairs, in the storage area that wasn't floored w/ one of our dogs. The dog stepped on the dropped ceiling, fell through onto a pt on whom I was doing a pap, the pt screamed in shock, I screamed at my husband. No one was hurt
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This was my mother. She died because the staff at the rehab facility she went to after a bout of non-Covid pneumonia were not vaccinated, and were sloppy about masking.
Don’t be the cause of someone dying.
#GetVaccinated
#COVID19
BARBARA SHANAHAN, 94, of Richmond, Virginia, died of COVID on Feb. 16, 2021.
"She was the energizer bunny...She loved wine, her daughter, her granddaughter, and her church, not necessarily in that order. Sharp of tongue and kind of heart."
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@jeangaijin
@KMurryByrd
A labradoodle - he was less than a year old at the time, so probably 30 lbs ( he eventually was 70 lbs!)
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@realDonaldTrump
I don’t think you even realize when you are lying anymore. I’m not a psychiatrist but I’m sure there’s a DSM code for this. Republicans have been trying to kill those of us with preexisting conditions since about 10 minutes after the ACA was signed into law
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@choo_ek
I’m a METASTATIC CANCER PATIENT. I used to be an OB/GYN before FUCKING CANCER. I can READ JOURNAL ARTICLES and TRANSLATE THEM INTO PLAIN ENGLISH for other patients.
I’m
#NOTDEADYET
and I LOVE THE ACA. If you don’t like it, MOVE.
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I am enrolling in two imaging studies for people with metastatic cancer. Both of them refer to participants as "subjects". No, we are participants, or volunteers, or
#clinicaltrial
heroes. We are not "subjects".
#WordsMatter
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Today was the first day EVER my mom didn’t stomp on the imaginary brake on the passenger side, brace herself on the dashboard, put her arm out when I braked (mom seatbelt!) or say “watch out” while I was driving. I laughed as I strapped her in and then cried.
#MissingMyMom
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You know you have a good and caring oncologist when he calls to tell you your scans are stable!! 4 years, 10 months of NEAD
#metastaticbreastcancer
! Thank you
@TomSemrad
#bcsm
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When
@MDAndersonNews
changed the name from palliative to supportive care referrals increased 41% and were made much earlier in the course of cancer care.
#ABCLisbon
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Today is my birthday. I was diagnosed with
#metastatic
#breastcancer
7 years ago today. For my birthday I want research.
@metavivor
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I have scans tomorrow in San Francisco, and a doctor’s appointment Tuesday, so I decided to treat myself to an oceanfront hotel near Half Moon Bay. Little chilly and cloudy/foggy but the sound of the ocean is so soothing! And I saw 2 🐬 while walking along the beach!! 😊 🌊 ❤️
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@Stickit2Stage4
Libby was not her MBC. She was a mom, to an adorable 4 year old daughter. She was an artist and a talented photographer. She was open and brutally honest about what MBC did to her and her family. I will miss her
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Hubby is 65. I’m not. I didn’t get my
#COVID19
vaccine b/c I have
#metastatic
#cancer
and a 30% mortality risk. I got it because I have MD after my name. Once I get the 2nd shot, I’ll volunteer to vaccinate others. And I’ll keep working to get people w/ cancer prioritized.
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I don’t ever think I’ve been so happy to see a sunset from my house. Thank you to all the firefighters, first responders, LEOs, staff,
utility workers who helped keep our
#Tahome
safe ❤️
#CaldorFire
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Hi all! Kelly, former ob/gyn, early stage BC 2008, MBC 2013, checking in from snowy Lake Tahoe. 1st scans today after progression in May look good, just need PET next week to confirm response to current treatment!
#bcsm
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I'm not HER2+ and I don't have
#brainmets
but when I heard these results at
#SABCS19
I cried, and I cried again Friday when the
@FDAOncology
approved
#tucatinib
. I cried because my HER2+ friends now have another option.
#bcsm
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Guess I’m starting my
#ClinicalTrial
tomorrow instead of next week!! Thank you for always having my back Dr
@hoperugo
💚🩷🩵
#bcsm
#ResearchNotRibbons
@metavivor
PS please keep 🤞🏻 I don’t get a speeding ticket 👮🏻♂️ on my way to SF this week 😝
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My entire community is under either a mandatory evacuation or an evaluation warning due to the
#CaldorFire
. I love you South Lake Tahoe, and hope we have a home to return to and that the firefighters and support staff stay safe. 💔
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Sometimes this bird app is a beautiful thing: a breast surgeon I do not know in Bangkok is calling the hospital on Phuket and relaying info to me about my husband. A college classmate of a Twitter friend is contacting someone he knows in healthcare on Phuket. 1/2
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#ClinicalTrial
C1D1, an 8+ hour day at
@UCSFCancer
with 7 blood draws (fortunately 6 of them thru an iv!), 2 EKGs, and an exam by my incredible oncologist Dr
@hoperugo
.
Hoping for super powers. Will settle for long PFS.
#bcsm
#ResearchNotRibbons
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Twitterverse, I need some good juju/prayers/whatever sent to my 94-year-old mother who was just taken to the emergency room. In Richmond, 2700 miles away from me. Waiting for the ER doc to call me back after he sees her and runs some tests.
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Dear Pharma
How about you stop doing the flyer door drops that no one looks at and instead fund
#PatientAdvocate
scholarships to attend conferences??
Thank you,
Advocates Everywhere
#SABCS19
#oncoalert
#bcsm
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Metastatic breast cancer has stolen another life.
@DohertyShannen
didn’t “lose a battle”, she was murdered by MBC, and 114 other people in the US today will be as well.
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I truly believe that
#Advocacy
is saving my life, not only because of the
#Research
we advocate for, but because of the friends I’ve made and the sense of purpose it has given me.
#MetastaticBreastCancer
#bcsm
#SABCS19
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Kelly from Lake Tahoe, former ob/gyn, living with
#metastatic
BC since 11/2013. Just diagnosed with my 1st progression since diagnosis and getting ALL the tests this week (Guardant 360, tissue biopsy, more imaging...)
#bcsm
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@symplur
@ASCO
@corrie_painter
@double_whammied
@womenofteal
@jamienholloway
@coffeemommy
@MyelomaTeacher
@lgreco_ny
@jillfeldman4
@ivybelkins
ASCO is crazy expensive, from registration fee, to hotel, to airfare, to food. We not only work for free (our expertise as patients is a commodity) but we have to pay out of pocket. Many patients don’t work for nor are supported by advocacy organizations.
@ASCO
#ASCO19
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PLEASE call your senators. My life literally depends on this bill's failure. My premium SURCHARGE could be $142,000.
#DeathCare
This week we need to be focused on defeating the Graham-Cassidy bill. It would end the Affordable Care Act.
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@silke4senate
Love and light to you Klaus, and to Silke’s mother and all her family and friends. She enriched the lives of all who were lucky enough to have met her. Rest in power, my friend, and I will continue the work we started.
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Unfortunately, biopsy shows this liver lesion is a met. The
@UCSFCancer
interventional radiology team was fantastic and a huge thank you to pathologist
@BalassanianRon
who did the FNA and told me results right away. MBC sucks but I’m grateful for
@hoperugo
& the whole UCSF team
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While the better known breast cancer org decided NOT to award any new grants in 2020, little
@metavivor
, run by volunteers, most living w/
#MetastaticBreastCancer
, and w/o the benefit of big in person fundraisers, managed to raise $3.65 MILLION for
#research
. Thank you 💙💗💚
Metavivor announces 23 new research grant awards for $3,650,000.
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This is the reality of metastatic breast cancer. It’s not pink ribbons and pom-poms. It is husbands becoming widowers. Mothers burying daughters and sons.
#stageivneedsmore
#ResearchNotRibbons
I’m sorry to say but my wife Andrea passed away this morning. It’s been a very difficult 9 days, thank you to everyone who reached out.
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Kelly with MBC (8 yrs next month) and a PET today showing response to my current line of therapy, checking in from it-snowed-last-night Lake Tahoe!
#bcsm
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May 2020 bring more and better
#research
, more accessible
#ClinicalTrials
, and, most important, more ❤️
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Kelly, former ob/gyn dx with early stage
#breastcancer
in 2008 and
#metastatic
in 2013. My 94 yr old mom was dx with mets 2 weeks ago (1st early stage dx in 1999) but she died of f-ing
#COVID19
last week.
#bcsm
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THIS ⬇️ is how hard these women worked on
#GRASPcancer
@GRASPtweets
. Passed out in the
@LillyPad
sponsored
@abreastcancer
#Advocate
lounge at
#SABCS19
. ❤️
@christeeny513
@itsnot_pink
#bcsm
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I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: academia/industry/government/non-profits should fund a central clinical trial hotline.
As a former doc with metastatic cancer maybe this could be my new career?
#OncoAlert
The Need for Clinical Trial Navigators
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Grateful to be here to see another year; in metastatic cancer land that is never a given. The lows of 2 cancer progressions were balanced by the highs of time and travel with friends, and especially
@taylorswift13
and the Arctic with my daughter.
May 2024 bring peace to all.
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Radiation therapy is so weird. No noise, no flashing lights. Is anything really happening? 1 down, 4 to go.
#NoLongerARadiationVirgin
#bcsm
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Year 2 of COVID couldn’t keep
@metavivor
from funding over $4 million in metastatic focused grants. Thank you to each and every donor ❤️
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To all of my wonderful
#BCSM
friends: had to evacuate from our house in South Lake Tahoe, CA - the entire town did d/t
#CaldorFire
. We are lucky - we own a rental property in NV and the tenants had just moved out on Friday. We are safe. So far none of our properties have burned🤞🏻
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I was dx with MBC in mid November, had surgery a few days later, started IV chemo mid Dec. My husband and 15 yr old daughter did everything and you know what, the world didn’t end. The 🎄 looked fine, the 🥘 was great, 🎁 got put in bags instead of wrapped. All good.
#bcsm
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today is my birthday and my 8th metaversary, the day I heard "your cancer has come back in almost every bone" (yup, I had scans on my birthday because I didn't want to reschedule patients and I really thought the back pain was a herniated disc).
#research
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#Moderna
#CovidVaccine
#3
in the arm!!
#MetastaticBreastCancer
isn’t preventable but Covid19 is, I’m
#VaccinatedButVulnerable
and I’m using all the tools in the toolbox to decrease my risk of contracting or spreading it:
#GetVaccinated
#MaskUp
avoid crowds
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@GraceCordovano
Fax that report to us.
No, we don’t have email.
We can’t access MyChart.
The MRI/PET/CT is down.
We have to reschedule you.
Oh, you drove two hours?
Why didn’t we call you?
Dunno, that’s another department.
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When I drove up 50 and saw the smoke shrouded lake, I burst into tears. When I got to Heavenly Village and saw the 👩🚒 👨🚒 and 🚒 on both sides of the street, I yelled thank you and burst into tears. When I saw the “welcome home” signs, burst into tears.
#CaldorFire
#Tahome
❤️
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Sheila
@swaggsheila1
had the best smile. She was a woman of deep, deep faith. She was a veteran, a mom, a clinical trial champion, and she challenged the clinical trial machine to do better. She was a friend and I will miss her.
#bcsm
This week we lost
@swaggsheila1
, a fierce advocate for the entire metastatic community. To know her was to love her: her smile lit up the room, and her positivity was felt throughout. Sheila was a GRASP mentor since our first in-person at SABCS2019, and her loss is felt deeply.
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So proud to be on the board of directors of
@metavivor
, who announced the 2019 grants: 32 grants totaling $5 MILLION, bringing the grand total to $12.4 MILLION awarded since 2009!!
Thank you to each and every person who donates to METAvivor! 💙💚💗
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@justinmaykel
As a patient & former doc I disagree, BUT is incumbent on the doc to warn patients good & bad results will be posted AND to offer to go over results timely, in the manner the patient chooses. Some of us want info STAT, others want to hear from the doc. Lose the paternalism.
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@xeni
He desperately wanted a vaccine, yet here in the Entitled States of America we have surplus doses due to people thumbing their noses at the vaccine and deriding those of us who get it.
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#MedTwitter
I need your help: looking for someone who speaks Thai. My husband was in a bad motorcycle accident in Phuket and is in surgery there now.
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T3: learn everything you can about your disease. Your doc may be an expert in medicine but you’re an expert in you.if it’s advanced cancer, and you see a general onc, you may know more about your particular type of cancer than she does.
#patientchat
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I'm having my first - and only - eggnog latte of the season
#forbeth
@CultPerfectMoms
@thejhcaldwell
@KrisEngskov
All my subsequent cravings will be replaced with a donation to
@METUPorg
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I’ve now been awake for 24 hours since my husband called to tell me of his accident, which required external fixation of compound fractures of his tibia and fibula. I don’t know if I’m crying from exhaustion or because there are kind people who will help a stranger. 2/2
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October 13, metastatic breast cancer awareness day. Of the 31 days in October only one day, today, is dedicated to the people who actually die from breast cancer. Seems a bit topsy-turvy to me, but what the heck do I know, I'm just trying to stay
#NotDeadYet
for a little longer
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Feb: my mom died of
#Covid19
contracted in physical rehab facility.
Mar: dog almost died of ITP; still not 100%
May: my
#metastaticbreastcancer
wakes up/spreads after 7 yrs of stability
Aug: evacuated d/t
#CaldorFire
Sept: our boat almost sinks.
PLEASE 2021, enough already!
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@thanh_neville
What is more outrageous than doctors having to pay for parking is patients having to pay for parking. To get cancer treatments.
(I only have to pay at the big city academic center; parking is free for all at the community hospitals)
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@wired4story
There is no way to “like” this tweet. Wishing you days of warm sun, nights of sparkling stars, and every moment pain free and surrounded in love. Thank you for sharing yourself with us.
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October 3. I am one of the 25-30% of people with early stage breast cancer who later are diagnosed with metastatic disease, in my case 5.5 years after my initial diagnosis. For my subtype (ER/PR+, HER2-) metastatic recurrance can occurs years to decades later. 1/
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being diagnosed with progression after 7 years NEAD after initial
#metastaticbreastcancer
diagnosis sucks. What doesn't suck is talking to your world renowned onc within hours on a Friday afternoon (TY
@hoperugo
) and having a FNA within days (TY
@BalassanianRon
)
@UCSFCancer
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Immunotherapy of metastatic TNBC bad news: few respond. Good news: those who do respond do really well. My take: we need biomarkers to figure out who will benefit.
@METUPorg
#METUPasks
#SABCS17
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Dr Heather Parsons of
@DanaFarber
presents on the future for ER+ disease, and includes a fantastatic chart of agents in trials (definitely save that chart!). Only crticism: Dr Parsons needs to get on twitter!
#SABCS21
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Hope today’s scan results are as good as today’s weather in San Francisco!
@UCSFCancer
#ClinicalTrial
#MetastaticBreastCancer
#bcsm
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Those of us w/
#MetastaticBreastCancer
(for those in the UK, secondary) deal w/ the side effucks/collateral damage with no end, except death, in sight. Most days I just buck up and deal with it, but some days that is just too hard.
I see you
@Liz_ORiordan
. Holding space for you.
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So bummed I’m missing
#ASCO22
but incredibly grateful to Dr
@hoperugo
for facilitating getting my husband to
@UCSFOrthosurg
- he was admitted straight from clinic today and will be having the 1st of a series of surgeries tomorrow. Good juju welcome!
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You may be the experts on disease but we are the experts on living with our diseases. Together we can do great things. Advocates have value
Hospitals, prof orgs, cancer ctrs, & industry would be wise to invest 💵 in sending our
#advocacy
colleagues to attend confs. Having them at the table unequivocally improves
#drugdevelopment
. I’ve seen it firsthand. It also may rescue us from
#physicianburnout
. We need them. 👇
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80
.
@Starbucks
@KrisEngskov
@coreydu
TY for getting
@CultPerfectMoms
an
#eggnoglatte4beth
before she died. I will never forget your compassion
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Kelly, former ob/gyn, 6 days away from 8 yrs living with MBC, checking in from Lake Tahoe.
#bcsm
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Watching the
@ASCO
plenary series: aspirin has shown promise in reducing cancer growth and death IN MICE but the ABC (Aspirin after Breast Cancer) trial did not show any benefit to aspirin and the study was stopped early.
Bottom line: don’t get too excited about results in 🐭
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Most of us advocates are patients, many of us are on disability due to our cancer, and thus on limited income. We are the experts on living with cancer and our expertise should be valued - by paying our costs to attend these conferences and for our time when you pick our brains
Patient advocates need $upport to attend onco conferences. We are not paid to have cancer or to help disseminate research findings to our peers. Thx
#OncoAlert
@itsthebunk
@itsnotpink
@stage4kelly
for shining a light on dwindling pt participation at
#ASCO19
@OncoAlert
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I’m making November gratitude month.
Today I am grateful that I know
@ChefGeib
. Tori is the queen of legislative advocacy. We’ve been research advocates for her oncologist,
@StoverLab
.
Tori is in hospice and I want her to know how much she is loved while she is still alive.
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October 9. One of the most frustrating things about pink vomited all over everything this month is that it ignores the MEN that get breast cancer, including metastatic breast cancer. 1/
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October 6. "Early detection saves lives". "Get your mammogram to prevent cancer". We hear phrases like this every October and they are just plain wrong.
FACT: Mammograms don't prevent cancer they detect cancer that is already there!!! 1/
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Palliative care should be offered to every metastatic patient upon diagnosis. Ginny Mason
@IBCResearch
May not have
#metastatic
cancer herself, but she knows what we should be offered.
#2019MetCancerEngagement
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@SenJohnMcCain
I'm a former doctor with incurable metastatic breast cancer. If caps, preexisting, high risk pools return I'm dead. Please vote NO, sir.
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As I head out to
#ABC4
, my mentor is dying. Of course I'm wearing the shirt of the organization she founded. I love you
@CultPerfectMoms
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The US spends 3 times more on health care administration than it does on cancer care. This is sickening
#SCHD19
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congrats to the amazing
@itsnot_pink
for receiving the
@abreastcancer
innovation in advocacy award for asking a ? that sparked discussion about doing a trial!! ❤️
#SABCS19
#bcsm
#oncoalert
#GRASPcancer
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I know plenty of people who had the strongest reasons to live, that lived lives with purpose, that had amazing support systems, that took control - AND THEY'RE STILL DEAD .
#LBBCMetsConf
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As someone living with
#MetastaticBreastCancer
I would argue how significant a < 3 month improvement in PFS is, especially given a 10+ improvement in PFS with CDK 4/6 inhibitors + endocrine therapy.
#sabcs21
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Wish me luck that I don’t accidentally drop an F bomb while I’m commenting at the 1/27 CDC ACIP meeting!
#bcsm
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Signing off and sending love to
@ChefGeib
as she transitions. Grateful that
@Stickit2Stage4
is with her.
#bcsm
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Keep in mind that of the 3 metastatic breast cancer patients (of 47 total), 1 is showing a durable response 2 years after treatment (I will not use the word "cure"), 1 died due to complications of the treatment and 1 died due to progression on the treatment.
#FactsNotHype
For the first time ever, doctors have cured a woman with advanced-stage terminal breast cancer
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Grateful to be
#NotDeadYet
for a 10th Thanksgiving post MBC diagnosis, for my family and friends, for my wonderful oncologists
@TomSemrad
@hoperugo
, and for the opportunity to participate in a
#ClinicalTrial
.
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Kelly, former ob/gyn,
#NotDeadYet
with MBC since 11/14/13, ending up a wonderful mother-daughter week in NY including tea at the Plaza, Wicked, bird’s eye view of Macy’s parade, and Harry Styles concert!
#bcsm
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Sending good vibes to
@taylorswift13
’s mom who has been diagnosed with
#metastaticbreastcancer
. Hugs to the whole family. We get it.
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So much this slide, in terms of “why did I get cancer?”
To me, this is also a slide that can be adapted to “why am I
#NotDeadYet
but many of my metastatic friends are? Genotype + environment + treatment + sheer dumb luck.
#schd19
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Some of us don't survive cancer, but we never, ever "lose a battle" with cancer - our lives are stolen by cancer. Every day in the US alone approximately 115 people die from
#MetastaticBreastCancer
.
Grateful every day that I’m alive & living a full life, despite having
#metastatic
#breastcancer
. But, today my heart is heavy, & it’s difficult to breathe, or celebrate life when 2
#MBC
friends &
#advocates
died 1 day apart. Rest in love Karin & Kim.
#StageIVNeedsMore
#Research
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